Thrifts and Mortgage Finance

Company Overview of Countrywide Financial Corp.

Company Overview

As of July 1, 2008, Countrywide Financial Corp. was acquired by Bank of America Corporation. Countrywide Financial Corp. provides home loans. The company offers refinance mortgage solutions; home equity loans and home equity line of credits; home loans for new home purchases, as well as second, vacation, and investment homes; reverse mortgage products; and multi-family and commercial loans. The company was formerly known as Countrywide Credit Industries, Inc. and changed its name to Countrywide Financial Corp. in November, 2002. The company was founded in 1969 and is based in Calabasas, California.

4500 Park Granada

Calabasas, CA 91302

United States

Founded in 1969

50,386 Employees

Phone:

818-225-3000

Fax:

818-304-5979

Key Executives for Countrywide Financial Corp.

Countrywide Financial Corp. does not have any Key Executives recorded.

Countrywide Financial Corp. Key Developments

U.S. District Court for the Central District Grants Final Approval of $500 Million Settlement of Securities Fraud Action against Countrywide Financial Corp

Feb 15 14

The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California granted final approval of the settlement of securities fraud class action claims brought against Countrywide Fin Corp. arising from alleged misstatements made in connection with the issuance of mortgage-backed securities (MBS). Purchasers or acquirers of certificates purchased in connection with 429 MBS offerings issued by Countrywide Financial Corp. brought numerous actions against Countrywide, certain of its officers and other parties, alleging securities fraud arising from misstatements made in connection with the offerings. The complaints alleged violations of Section 11, 12(a)(2) and 15 of the Securities Act of 1933. The cases came before the court on a joint motion for final approval of a settlement and request for an award of attorneys' fees. The district court found the proposed settlement, which involved a payment of $500 million plus interest, was fair, reasonable and adequate. The record indicates the parties submitted comprehensive mediation statements regarding the relative strengths and weaknesses of each side and subsequently engaged in two full-day mediation sessions with a court appointed mediator, followed by numerous mediated settlement discussions extending over a six-month period, resulting in the agreed settlement terms. Based on that record and additional evidence, the court found the settlement reflected an arm's-length transaction by counsel who as a result of extensive discovery, were adequately apprised of the relative strengths and weaknesses of their positions. The court found the plaintiffs faced several legal difficulties in continued prosecution of the actions, including the district court's prior precedent, which if applied, would reduce the number of certificates at issue to 58 'live' tranches from the over 9,000 tranches upon which the plaintiffs originally sued.

Dismissing a suit alleging discriminatory lending practices by various mortgage companies, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York held that the plaintiff's claims were released in a previous class action settlement. The plaintiff failed to show that she was inadequately represented in the class litigation or that the notice provided to her did not comport with due process. Ibelka Vargas brought a class action lawsuit against Capital One Financial Advisors, Countrywide Financial Corp., Bank of America N.A., IBM Lender Business Process Services Inc. and Seterus. The complaint alleged the defendants utilized a 'discretionary pricing policy' that had a discriminatory impact on African-American and Hispanic borrowers. Capital One moved to dismiss, arguing that the settlement release in Ramirez v. GreenPoint Mortgage Funding Inc. (Ramirez) precluded Vargas' suit. In 2008, the Ramirez plaintiffs filed a class action lawsuit in the Northern District of California against GreenPoint Mortgage Funding, Capital One's predecessor in interest. The Ramirez plaintiffs alleged that GreenPoint's discretionary pricing policy discriminated against minority applicants for home mortgage loans. The parties ultimately reached a $14,750,000 settlement. The district court concluded the prerequisites for res judicata preclusion were met. Vargas was a member of the Ramirez settlement class. Also, Capital One was in privity with GreenPoint during the Ramirez litigation. Finally, the claims asserted in Ramirez were the same as those asserted by Vargas. The settlement notice included all of the information Fed. R. Civ. P. 23 requires. The district court observed the notice adequately advised Vargas of the rights she would give up if she did not opt out of the settlement. The district court concluded that Capital One and the other defendants were released parties under the terms of the Ramirez settlement. Vargas was therefore precluded from pursuing her claims.

Countrywide Financial Corporation and others, Led by Lead Plaintiff, the Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System Agrees to a $500 Million Settlement

Apr 17 13

Plaintiffs in the landmark mortgage-backed securities (MBS) class action litigation against Countrywide Financial Corporation and others, led by Lead Plaintiff, the Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System (IPERS), have agreed to a $500 million settlement, according to plaintiffs' Lead Counsel Steven J. Toll of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC. It is the nation's largest MBS-federal securities class action settlement. If approved by the U.S. District Court in the Central District of California, the settlement will bring to a close the consolidated class action lawsuit brought in 2010 by multiple retirement funds against Countrywide and other defendants for securities violations involving the packaging and sale of MBS. Bank of America acquired Countrywide in 2008. The plaintiffs charge that they and other investors were sold billions of dollars worth of MBS certificates backed primarily with defective Countrywide-originated loans. By late 2008, virtually all of those certificates were downgraded to junk bond status. Class representatives in the settlement of the 429 Countrywide-sponsored offerings are the Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System (IPERS), which was appointed lead plaintiff by the U.S. District Court, Central District of California, in May 2010; as well as the Oregon Public Employee's Retirement System; the Orange County Employees' Retirement System; and the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits of the United Methodist Church, who were appointed additional class representatives in November 2011.

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